Meet Franco Colapinto, F1’s first Argentine driver in 23 years
For the first time since Gaston Mazzacane at the 2001 San Marino Grand Prix, F1 will have a driver from Argentina on the grid at the upcoming Italian Grand Prix.
Frano Colapinto has been drafted in by Williams to replace the under-performing Logan Sargeant, but who is the 777th driver to race in F1?
Born in Pilar on the outskirts of the capital Buenos Aries on May 27th, 2003, Colapinto began his career climbing the karting ladder, and even earned gold in the youth Summer Olympics in 2018 in karting, before moving to Spanish F4.
He claimed the title in his first full year in Europe before heading to the traditional ‘keep fit during the winter’ series of the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand in early 2020, coming up against the likes of Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda with one win, eight podiums and third in the standings.
By 2022, Colapinto moved into FIA F3, staying for two seasons and picking up four wins before a step to FIA F2 with his Williams backing, joining the Academy in early 2023.
His first full crack at F2 with the MP Motorsport squad has earned one win in the Imola sprint race with further podiums in the Spanish and Austrian feature rounds.
He ends the F2 season sixth with 96 points, suffering a DNF in his last outing at Spa.
Colapinto has driven for Williams in F1 before, making his debut at the post-Abu Dhabi test in 2023, before being handed his GP weekend debut at the British Grand Prix in 2024.
He deputised for Sargeant at Silverstone – and will now replace him full-time.
F1 drivers from Argentina
There have been 25 Argentine drivers in the F1 world championship, although a great many were local racers who only ever took part in their home grand prix.
F1 has not actually raced in Argentina since 1998 when Michael Schumacher won the final race of a four-year return to the calendar.
However, Argentina has produced some iconic drivers.
Juan Manuel Fangio was the original ‘man to beat’ in F1, taking five world championships between 1951-1957, and setting an all-time record that will never be beaten.
From his 51 starts, he recorded 24 wins, giving him a win percentage of 47.06%. In contrast, Lewis Hamilton has 30.26% and Max Verstappen 30.50%.
After Fangio, came Carlos Reutemann, who also raced for Williams and should have won the 1981 title before a collapse in the finale in Las Vegas allowed Nelson Piquet to sneak through.
Reutemann quit early in 1982 with the Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom brewing, with one eye on his political career after 12 wins in his racing one.
Other notable Argentines in F1 include Jose Froilan Gonzalez, the man who won Ferrari’s first world championship grand prix at the 1951 British GP, and Onofre Marimon – who was the first driver to be killed at a world championship GP other than the Indy 500, when he perished in practice for the 1954 German GP at the Nurburgring.
Colapinto is also the first driver from South America to race in F1 since Brazil’s Pietro Fittipaldi deputised for Romain Grosjean at Haas in the final two races of 2020 following his fiery accident in Bahrain.
